The German military observer in China was a retired German officer named Frank, who was about 50 years old and looked very capable.

Wearing a German [***] suit and a telescope around his neck, he was picked up by a vehicle from the East China Temporary Political Axe and arrived at the Yingtan training area.

Frank had already visited Hankow to observe the Battle of Hankow, so he was puzzled by the military power of the Provisional Political Axe in East China.

I don't know why he was invited to visit this time, but Frank was very happy because he could get up close and personal with the army of the East China Temporary Political Axe.

He was more interested in the weapons used by the East China Provisional Political Axe in the defense of Hanyang, one was the French rapid-fire gun, the other was the grenadier, and the submachine gun.

Frank got out of the car and saw a very young officer greeting him, and after shaking hands, he learned through the interpreter's explanation that the very young officer in front of him was the head of the East China Provisional Political Axe.

Frank had heard that the head of the East China Provisional Political Axe was very young, but he didn't expect to be so young. After Xia Jun shook hands with Frank, he invited him into the barracks.

When Frank entered the barracks, he was shocked to see a large number of vehicles, three-wheeled motorcycles, and a cannon covered in black cloth neatly parked in the barracks.

It's surprising that there can be such uniform outfits and equipment, and these vehicles are obviously a bit beyond Frank's expectations.

"Equipping the army with trucks and motorcycles is called motorized troops." Xia Jun said to Frank, who nodded and said, "This is a very leading approach. ”

Then Frank asked, "After the army is mobilized, what is the general speed of the march?" ”

"It's very fast, and if the road allows, you can travel more than 200 kilometers in ten hours." Xia Jun said.

Frank's mouth opened in surprise, but he thought that such a thing as a truck could indeed allow the troops to reach such a speed, and the German [***] team without trucks generally marched at a speed of between twenty and forty kilometers per day.

Of course, the fact that the Germans marched so slowly was also related to their heavy equipment, and the movement speed of machine guns and artillery was not too fast. On the march, these heavy equipment will cause the soldiers to lose their endurance more quickly, and the Europeans are not very good at hardship and hard work, and the quality of machines and officers is compared in war.

The troops in Asia, on the other hand, are said to march more than 100 kilometers very commonly, and strong-willed troops can even walk more than 200 kilometers in one night, and wars often have the phenomenon of will triumphing over machines.

Later, Frank had a meal with Xia Jun and other officers in the barracks, eating canned food in the barracks, and Frank had a new understanding of the East China Provisional Political Axe Army during this meal.

This army appears to be extremely regular both on the surface and in detail, and there are many things that are ahead of its time, which is very surprising for a backward country.

The next day, Yingtan conducted an infantry and artillery coordination exercise, Frank was a little dumbfounded, in this infantry and artillery coordination, although the artillery of the East China Provisional Political Axe is not too skilled, but their artillery fire is very fierce, and the reconnaissance also uses aircraft.

The planes were fast, much faster than any other plane Frank had ever seen.

Moreover, the careful Frank found that the East China Provisional Political Axe Army used a very advanced battlefield communication equipment in the exercise, and their artillery could quickly make overall coordination under this equipment and carry out coordinated strikes against the same target.

The facts were shocking, especially the firearms they used.

Type 09 semi-automatic rifle (M1 Garand), BZ-26 light machine gun, MG08/15 light machine gun, and grenadier canisters are all very advanced and excellent firearms.

At this time, Xia Jun gave the drawings of the MG08/15 light machine gun to the German side for free, and asked Frank to hand it over on his behalf. The MG08/15 was developed from the German MG08 Maxim heavy machine gun, and the mechanical principle was basically the same, only in an improved version.

Frank was overjoyed after getting the drawings, and at the same time, Xia Jun also revealed to him that he hoped to have in-depth exchanges with the German side, and he still had more advanced weapons in his hands and was willing to exchange them for German military technology.

At present, Germany has never signed an alliance with anyone, and is in the same state as the United States, and the Manchu Qing Dynasty once wanted to promote an alliance between China, Germany, and the United States, but it seems a little whimsical, the United States and Germany can never come together, and China and Germany are not in an alliance, and they do not have enough strength.

Xia Jun didn't want to form an alliance with Germany, he just wanted to exchange technology with them, for example, if he bought this technology from the exchange platform, he could exchange it with the Germans for another technology, such as this kind of exchange in the military, which did not involve any market problems, and there was no conflict between the two sides.

Frank quickly reported to the German side, for which the German side attached great importance to it, although the German side was surprised that the army of the East China Provisional Political Axe was so regularized and possessed so many advanced weapons, but this was not the point, the point was that the other side wanted to exchange military technology with Germany.

Frank believes in the report that the cooperation between the two sides will be a win-win situation, their (East China Provisional Political Axe) military industry is very lacking in foundation, and these foundations are what they need, and these foundations are not unique to Germany, and at the same time they are far away from us, and will not conflict with German interests, so this is a cost-effective exchange, we only need to pay not unique basic military industry technology, can be exchanged for many advanced weapons drawings, they revealed to me, their aircraft, Submarines are much more advanced than those of all countries today.

This would be a win-win situation, and the German side agreed with Frank's point of view, and had no doubt about it, because the navy had sunk several warships by submarines off the coast of Ningde a few months earlier.

The German side was very interested in these technologies, and soon appointed Frank to invite the personnel of the East China Provisional Political Axe Army to come to Germany for military exchanges, and at the same time, Germany also organized an exchange team to prepare to come to China.

Xia Jun knew that at this time the two sides were still in the stage of contact and contact, although the friendship between the countries was fragile, but under certain conditions, it could still be maintained, the most important thing was that there was no conflict of interest, and he obviously had no conflict of interest with Germany, so he could have in-depth contact, so he appointed Chen Xuanyu to lead 20 army officers to Germany for military exchanges.

…… On the other side, Zhu Erdian visited the arsenal in Jian'an, and he saw a very advanced bullet factory, as well as a rifle factory.

The East China Provisional Political Axe produced three types of rifles, an American Springfield rifle, a German Mauser rifle, and a Type 09 semi-automatic rifle equipped by their regular army.

Zhu Erdian was very surprised by this new rifle, because this new rifle has extremely strong firepower, and it would not be a waste of bullets, after all, it is also shot by shot.

Zhu Erdian then visited Fujian's militia training, during which nearly 150,000 militiamen were gathered from all over the country, and each of these 150,000 had guns in his hands.

In a sea of people, Zhu Erdian was shocked.

The military strength of 150,000 people is nothing for Britain and other countries, but this is China, Zhu Erdian, who is familiar with the situation in China, immediately thought that if the East China Provisional Political Axe wants to launch a war of unification, no one will be able to stop them, after all, other provinces in China do not have such strong strength at all, and even Yuan Shikai, who thinks that he is most likely to unify China, cannot resist the footsteps of the East China Provisional Political Axe.

The East China Provisional Political Axe can produce guns by itself, and at the same time it can also produce bullets, as long as they are given a certain amount of time to accumulate, the consequences will be even more terrible.

By this time, Zhu Erdian could see the intention of the temporary political axe in East China, and if they wanted to recover the tariffs, it was indeed possible to have such strength.

China's tariffs, theoretically still Chinese, are only mortgaged to Western countries because of the issue of reparations, and these countries jointly manage China's tariffs, and part of the annual income is deducted from the reparations, and the rest is called customs surplus, which is handed over to China for use.

The reason why the great powers want to control the tariffs is that the customs under the management of the Manchu Qing Dynasty are relatively [***], so the customs will not have much profit, and it may not be worth the amount of compensation. Second, for the sake of trade, it has controlled the tariff management and can give foreign ships more favorable tariff policies, so as to increase the dumping of goods in China.

The conditions for the provisional political axe in East China were relatively low, and they only demanded that the customs of Fujian and Zhejiang provinces be withdrawn, while the tariff policy on foreign goods should be kept unchanged, and the tariff revenues of Fujian and Zhejiang provinces must be handed over to the Chinese political axe.

As long as the British meet the conditions of the East China Provisional Political Axe, the East China Provisional Political Axe can assist Yuan Shikai and quickly stabilize China.

If Britain does not agree, then the East China Provisional Political Axe will use force to support the Nanjing Provisional Political Axe, and China will not be able to stabilize quickly, and at that time, the British will not know whether the Nanjing Provisional Political Axe will recognize it!

As for the Manchu Qing Dynasty, they have already been set out by Yuan Shikai and the East China Provisional Political Axe, not to mention the Nanjing Provisional Political Axe, they are the same as the East China Provisional Political Axe, they are anti-Qing.

Although the East China Provisional Political Axe did not say it so clearly, Zhu Erdian had already seen it.

Soon, Zhu Erdian received a letter from the Nanjing Provisional Political Axe, in which he expressed his support for the East China Provisional Political Axe to recover the tariffs of Fujian and Zhejiang provinces.

In a letter to the Queen of England, Zhu Erdian reported: "The will of the Chinese to recover the tariffs of Zhejiang and Fujian provinces is very strong, and both Yuan Shikai and the newly established Nanjing Provisional Political Axe have even reached an agreement.

In terms of the overall interests, as long as the British Empire relinquishes its control of the tariffs on these two provinces, it can be exchanged for the rapid stability of China. If we don't, the situation will most likely turn in the opposite direction, because the East China Provisional Axe has already outpowered Yuan Shikai and the Nanjing Provisional Axe in force, but they also have the intention of stabilizing China quickly, and it only depends on whether the British Empire is willing to return the tariffs. ”

(To be continued)